Popular Post EZ-E Posted November 20, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted November 20, 2013 This is copy and pasted straight from a conversation I had via PM with someone last night. I thought it was something that I could share with the board. It is sometimes hard for me to explain what I am trying to say through a message board. I think if all of HB sat down and talked in person that we would probably find we aren't in disagreement all of the time. A lot is lost on a message board. For example, you can't tell someone's tone of voice and sometimes someone has a thought that they think is in context, but you read it differently than the way that they intended it to come across. I thought I did the best job explaining it here so I thought I'd post it. Here are my thoughts as to where we stand if a change were to be made and my thoughts on the offense and defense. It is not that I don't think we would get somebody good post-Bo. It is just tough for me to see a realistic candidate that would leave their current position. It is not like I don't think NU isn't a top job. Maybe what I should have been saying for awhile now is that other jobs are EASIER and more attractive than ours. For example, I really think UCLA and TAMU have all the makings to be BIG TIME programs in the next ten years. All of the pieces are in place to do that for them. As I currently believe is the case with us. I realize we as over-educated fans are not indicative of the fanbase as a whole, but the last thing I usually do is blame individual players or coaches. I hate excuses as much as anyone else because I wouldn't accept an excuse from a soccer player that I've coached, but given the circumstances this year, come on now. We lost an all-American player and our four year starting QB to injury. We've had the worst luck of really any team in the B1G in my personal opinion. Beck? He's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. If he throws the ball three times on the goalline people say he should have ran it. If he runs it, people say he should have passed it. Next time that we sit down for drinks I'll explain to you our running game in my eyes, but you've got to commit to how we run much like Oregon does. With our blocking schemes, you'll never just line up and go hat on a hat like we used to and knock people back five yards, but with the way we run it you don't have to have the biggest and strongest guys. What Oregon and we do really reminds me a lot of what Denver under Shanahan use to do with Terrell Davis in the sense that there is no designed hole that Ameer is suppose to hit. We show them exactly what we are planning on doing with our formation. From there, our OL is taught to read where the defense is over-pursuing because the defense knows where the play is designed to go. From there, it is all about Ameer making the right cut. Which he has done so much this year and that is why he's special. Every once in awhile since the defense knows where the play is designed to go they make the play. That is why Oregon leads the nation in plays for negative yards. That is why we have a good amount of plays also go for negative yards. But much like the option back in TOs day, you have to commit to your system. I am actually impressed with Beck but I do agree every game there is a series that leaves you scratching your head. But we were spoiled so long with the greatest offensive mind and play caller in history that anyone is going to be a downgrade. Newby has an opportunity to be better than him if he gets the vision part down. He hasn't gotten carries this year IMO because he doesn't have that part and just tries to out-athlete people. Which you can't do at this level. But he has that break away speed Ameer doesn't have. As you can look back and see, I've always been critical of us against the run. In Bo's scheme, he concedes it a lot because he doesn't want to give up the long pass. The scheme he likes to run calls for two high safeties most of the time and if you look back at the thread about our defense against 10 personnel, we had no chance stopping it because we simply didn't have the numbers we needed to in the box. I attributed it to Bo not trusting the secondary. Would you with the safety play we had earlier this year? We have been bringing a lot of pressure lately and I'd attribute it a lot to Bo putting more trust in CC and Alexander and the secondary as a whole. When looking back at the Michigan game, we brought very controlled pressure. We'd make Lewan think that our DE was dropping into coverage only to bring him on a delayed blitz basically rocking him to sleep. It's been fun to watch exactly what we are doing because you can read about the scheme a lot online. The emergence of RG44 cannot be understated either. That guy is a huge reason why we've gotten relentless pressure. If you double VV which he now requires, you've got RG44 to deal with coming off the edge. At the airport I was privileged to meet a scout from the Bucs that was going to meet with Bo and watch practice. They were going to see RG44, VV, Moss, and our whole WR core. I was also fortunate enough to talk to a guy from the Steelers last year through my job and the Steelers have a lot of respect for Bo as a defensive mind and coach. With the talent we've recruited the past 3-4 years I think it would be a mistake to not give Bo a chance with it. If after 2-3 years it hasn't worked out, then I'd be on the side that it's time to move on. But with as much promise as there currently is in this program with as young and talented as we are I think it would be a damn shame if a change is made. I hope that clarifies more of my opinions for you. Anyone who is more knowledgable about football X's and O's I encourage you to correct any of the mistakes I may have made. I would really enjoy hearing it as I love football. GBR 13 Quote Link to comment
B.B. Hemingway Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 With the talent we've recruited the past 3-4 years I think it would be a mistake to not give Bo a chance with it. Couldn't agree more..... 1 Quote Link to comment
HuskerShark Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 With the talent we've recruited the past 3-4 years I think it would be a mistake to not give Bo a chance with it. If after 2-3 years it hasn't worked out, then I'd be on the side that it's time to move on. But with as much promise as there currently is in this program with as young and talented as we are I think it would be a damn shame if a change is made. My football IQ probably isn't at the level of yours, but this is where I am at right now as well. Earlier in the year, I was ready to usher Bo out the door because the defense was flat out embarrassing. I knew there would be growing pains, but that group was BAD to start the year. Now that the defense is finally showing what it could be, and the emergence of Michael Rose as a leader at MLB, we've got a group that could be absolutely terrifying to play in a couple of years. The only problem is that next year, we will be molding new CBs, Nickel, and whoever takes over Cooper's spot, and that could take a while as well. Hopefully we get a good DB class with a JUCO or 2 that will be able to fill the void left by SJB, Ciante, and Coop. 1 Quote Link to comment
EZ-E Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 With the talent we've recruited the past 3-4 years I think it would be a mistake to not give Bo a chance with it. If after 2-3 years it hasn't worked out, then I'd be on the side that it's time to move on. But with as much promise as there currently is in this program with as young and talented as we are I think it would be a damn shame if a change is made. My football IQ probably isn't at the level of yours, but this is where I am at right now as well. Earlier in the year, I was ready to usher Bo out the door because the defense was flat out embarrassing. I knew there would be growing pains, but that group was BAD to start the year. Now that the defense is finally showing what it could be, and the emergence of Michael Rose as a leader at MLB, we've got a group that could be absolutely terrifying to play in a couple of years. The only problem is that next year, we will be molding new CBs, Nickel, and whoever takes over Cooper's spot, and that could take a while as well. Hopefully we get a good DB class with a JUCO or 2 that will be able to fill the void left by SJB, Ciante, and Coop. Cooper is a rs junior Quote Link to comment
HuskerShark Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 With the talent we've recruited the past 3-4 years I think it would be a mistake to not give Bo a chance with it. If after 2-3 years it hasn't worked out, then I'd be on the side that it's time to move on. But with as much promise as there currently is in this program with as young and talented as we are I think it would be a damn shame if a change is made. My football IQ probably isn't at the level of yours, but this is where I am at right now as well. Earlier in the year, I was ready to usher Bo out the door because the defense was flat out embarrassing. I knew there would be growing pains, but that group was BAD to start the year. Now that the defense is finally showing what it could be, and the emergence of Michael Rose as a leader at MLB, we've got a group that could be absolutely terrifying to play in a couple of years. The only problem is that next year, we will be molding new CBs, Nickel, and whoever takes over Cooper's spot, and that could take a while as well. Hopefully we get a good DB class with a JUCO or 2 that will be able to fill the void left by SJB, Ciante, and Coop. Cooper is a rs junior I see. I was thinking he was a Sr for some reason. In that case, I feel VERY good about the defense, as long as we get CBs to step up for SJB's and Ciante's spot. And also, hopefully someone with some athleticism to take Josh Mitchell's spot. Quote Link to comment
EZ-E Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 With the talent we've recruited the past 3-4 years I think it would be a mistake to not give Bo a chance with it. If after 2-3 years it hasn't worked out, then I'd be on the side that it's time to move on. But with as much promise as there currently is in this program with as young and talented as we are I think it would be a damn shame if a change is made. My football IQ probably isn't at the level of yours, but this is where I am at right now as well. Earlier in the year, I was ready to usher Bo out the door because the defense was flat out embarrassing. I knew there would be growing pains, but that group was BAD to start the year. Now that the defense is finally showing what it could be, and the emergence of Michael Rose as a leader at MLB, we've got a group that could be absolutely terrifying to play in a couple of years. The only problem is that next year, we will be molding new CBs, Nickel, and whoever takes over Cooper's spot, and that could take a while as well. Hopefully we get a good DB class with a JUCO or 2 that will be able to fill the void left by SJB, Ciante, and Coop. Cooper is a rs junior I see. I was thinking he was a Sr for some reason. In that case, I feel VERY good about the defense, as long as we get CBs to step up for SJB's and Ciante's spot. And also, hopefully someone with some athleticism to take Josh Mitchell's spot. Josh is also a junior. With the emergence of Leroy Alexander, my hope is that we move CJAX to nickel. I like CJAX, but fact of the matter is that Leroy is just better than him to this point IMO. CJAX would bring a lot of hard hitting tackling ability and athletic ability. At nickel, he'd be nice and close to the LOS to help in run support. 1 Quote Link to comment
Redux Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 It truly is exciting to think what this group will be capable of in the next couple years. It just seems like the corner is about to get turned. Yet weve felt that way before. Flip side not many coaches, first time or not, have had to deal witht hlthe challenges Bo has. And he has handled them well given his lack of experience in the role. Next season should be special, 12 wins should not be a pipe dream. We can certainly achieve that. The turnovers have to stop though. If we improve on that stat alone we have a legitimate team on our hands capable of making a splash nationally. Great post by the way EZ. Quote Link to comment
OH HSKR FAN Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Nice positive post but I think the tide has turned. 1 Quote Link to comment
TheSker Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Nice positive post but I think the tide has turned. I think there are some that think this might be true......but I don't buy it. Our recruiting is still coming along well for this to be true from my perspective. 1 Quote Link to comment
Redux Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 It truly is exciting to think what this group will be capable of in the next couple years. It just seems like the corner is about to get turned. Yet weve felt that way before. Flip side not many coaches, first time or not, have had to deal witht hlthe challenges Bo has. And he has handled them well given his lack of experience in the role. Next season should be special, 12 wins should not be a pipe dream. We can certainly achieve that. The turnovers have to stop though. If we improve on that stat alone we have a legitimate team on our hands capable of making a splash nationally. Great post by the way EZ. Just to clarify...I've never thought we were about to turn the corner. When our defense was good in 2009 and 2010 we had an inept offense. When our offense was good shortly after that our defense sucked the big one. It wasn't until just this year that I've felt we were about to turn the corner. I predict big things for this team in the next 1-2 years. BUt in 2010 we had a QB rushing defense that was coming along and a young offense and ......oh god, I just had a case of deja vu Quote Link to comment
BIGREDIOWAN Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 The potential is there, it's just getting that to become a reality at this point. Nice post EZ-E Quote Link to comment
I am I Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I agree. 3 things really holding us back, though that is a "why can't we just seem to fix it?" ..... Penalties, turnovers, special teams. We lack in these phases pretty bad. Special teams just need a re-boot and practice practice practice. It's the penalties and turnovers that seem to be a psychological barrier that can only be fixed by some REAL accountability and leadership. Leaders forcing teammates into more focus and accountability. This is what is baffling to me; penalties and turnovers. But I'm excited for the last 3 games and the next couple years. Losing Martinez sucks a big one, but it may be a blessing for the future with experience if nothing else. Quote Link to comment
ZRod Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I think penalties have really improved this year. I can only recall one series where the Oline killed a drive with penalties. And the D really hasn't done anything bone headed, just typical PI calls we get with our style and bs PFs because we actually hit people. Quote Link to comment
Redux Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 2010 had some real potential to be special but focus was something we lacked big time. Closing was an issue. And depth killed us down the line. Martinez getting banged up essentially put the potential to a screeching halt. 2011 was just rough and theres no way else to look at it. Tough schedule, new league, lots of talent lost, more injuries. We were lucky to win the 9 we did looking back at it now. Quote Link to comment
lo country Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 We have potential on both sides. Depth is much more, IMO, than Bo has had since he has been here. Not just back ups, but younger guys starting as fresh ans sophs who will only get better. When Bo first got here, he made a living off of juniors and seniors. ie Suh, Prince, Fonzie etc ...... The down years have been when our poor recruiting has showed up and bit us. That appears to be turning ie guys who can defend in the B1G, skill guys who can run etc..... I am on the fence with Bo and Co, BUT the worst thing that happens is we probably go 9/10 wins. If that is the case and the AD sees the same issues, let him go. I think the pieces are in place to make a run next year. Maybe not at the MNC, but at the conference for sure. Look at the offensive firepower returning, the D coming back. Shore up the boneheaded issues and ST and there you go. Great post as well OP. Quote Link to comment
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